Considering the previous difficulty and the subsequent plot, Zhou Ning felt that only by leaving Arthas and Jaina would he have a chance to complete it.

Because after Arthas and Jaina left the team, it was equivalent to losing a reliable tank and crowd control. Now, it was basically a failure, but Zhou Ning had no intention of exiting the instance for now; at least he had to see the subsequent process first.

Entering Stratholme with Varian Wrynn, a putrid smell immediately filled his nostrils. On the streets, there were still many residents coming and going, looking quite normal.

It must be said, this sense of smell was quite realistic.

As Zhou Ning followed Varian through the main gate of Stratholme, the camera zoomed out again, entering a cinematic cutscene.

Varian stopped, his hands resting on his sword, and turned to look at Zhou Ning: "Warrior, you shouldn't have come. But I am glad that at what might be the last moment of my life, I can fight alongside a warrior like you. I have retreated too much before the Mad Clown, from the Stormwind Kingdom to Lordaeron, I abandoned my people and came to this land. But I am not prepared to give up now. My only pursuit now is to save the people suffering from the Scourge from this madman, or to die gloriously on the battlefield in a decisive battle against the enemy."

"Clap, clap, clap!"

A round of applause came from not far away, and himself, dressed in a purple suit and wearing a comical clown makeup, walked out of the shadows while clapping. Behind him followed a somewhat gloomy middle-aged man, and a flesh golem that appeared to be pieced together from rotting flesh.

"Well done, young king!" Mad Clown Zhou Ning's mouth curved upwards wildly, praising happily, "You remind me of an old friend, an old friend I haven't seen in a long time. And you, adventurer, your courage also catches my eye. To celebrate our reunion, I have brought you a gift, a big surprise!"

Seeing another version of himself in a certain sense for the first time, Zhou Ning couldn't help but twitch his mouth. According to his guess, all parallel world templates should be real existences, not just cold, lifeless templates.

He found it hard to imagine what kind of human tragedy another version of himself from a parallel timeline must have experienced to become the current Mad Clown, a very typical theatrical personality, completely opposite to an honest person like himself.

The clown turned his head and looked at the middle-aged man.

"Can you give me a light, Putress?"

"Gladly!"

A small incendiary bomb was thrown from the middle-aged man's hand, igniting a fuse not far away, and finally, boom!

Countless brilliant fireworks shot up into the sky from all around, and many citizens even stopped to watch curiously—it must be said, as a cutscene, this shot, when zoomed out, was quite impactful.

The Mad Clown raised both hands, as if a conductor signaling the audience for applause. He laughed wickedly: "As you can see, the residents here have long been infected by the terrifying plague. The flame of life in Stratholme will be extinguished forever, and what can you do?"

The camera zoomed in again, and the cutscene ended. In an instant, the residents on the street simultaneously roared, turning into undead and mindless zombies, beginning to wander the streets.

They gathered densely, almost causing trypophobia.

Zhou Ning:...Who can tell me how to break this?

Looking at the tragic scene before him, Varian could not suppress the anger in his heart. He raised his greatsword and charged towards the Mad Clown, but the latter dodged Varian's attack with a surprisingly strange stumble. Then, his figure in the purple suit reappeared not far away and snapped his fingers.

A prompt appeared on the panel: 【Purify Stratholme】 Instance Phase Two begins.

Zhou Ning and Varian's bodies simultaneously stiffened for a brief moment, and a 'Fatigue Curse' debuff appeared in their status bars.

"Knowledge is Power!"

With a flash of electric light in each eye, Zhou Ning silently recited, and without hesitation, activated Clan Precept. ebony and ivory continuously fired two bullets towards the clown.

"Oh?" A bullet hole suddenly appeared on the clown's purple suit, and the number "-420" clearly appeared above his head. He narrowed his eyes and looked towards Zhou Ning.

Mad Clown Zhou Ning

Level: 62

Template: Boss

Race: Human

Class: Warlock

Attributes: Strength 85, Agility 155, Stamina???, Spirit 174, Will 85, Charisma 98

Emotion: Calm

Health: 4150 / 4570

Status: Healthy

Feats: Shadow Resistance (Shadow Resistance +100%), Legendary Juggler (Your body possesses unparalleled perception and coordination), Weakness Mastery (You can easily discover and exploit enemy weaknesses), Infamous (Gain 50% bonus in fraud, coercion, brainwashing, etc.), Lightning Reflexes (Reaction ability +25%, Agility an additional +20) 【Remaining Unknown】

Skills: Shadow Bolt (Master), Flash (Expert), Raise Dead (Master), Marksmanship (Expert) 【Remaining Unknown】

So, it's just cheating? A whole bunch of legendary or elite feats, and the level even exceeded the version cap. How is one supposed to play this?

And just then, with a snap of the Mad Clown's fingers, a large group of zombies wandering nearby surged towards the two.

With a noticeable tremor of the ground, Varian's arms bulged, and he swung his greatsword, charging into the monster horde without hesitation.

Fortunately, among this group of zombies, only three were elite monsters; the rest were regular monsters. Although they were outnumbered, Varian did not fall behind against the zombie horde. With a Thunder Clap, a long crack appeared on the ground, and all zombies were slowed to varying degrees.

Under Zhou Ning's output, this group of zombies didn't last long either, falling under the combined attacks of the two. One zombie even generously dropped an engineering blueprint.

Blueprint: world enlarger

Use: Teaches you how to craft a world enlarger.

world enlarger: Purple Epic Quality

Use: Enlarges the entire world for 10 minutes, or until you attack an enemy.

Cooldown: 60 minutes

Note: Only Gnome cutting-edge technology can create devices that change the world.

Requires: Intermediate Engineering or Intermediate Precision Mechanical Manufacturing (Expert)

This was a pure bonus. Zhou Ning put away the blueprint with a strange expression, not expecting such an interesting blueprint to drop.

This was a unique blueprint from World of Warcraft. The learning requirements were not high, and he could craft it now. However, this blueprint wasn't necessarily useful; it depended on how it was used. If not used well, it would just be a toy.

Zhou Ning casually learned the blueprint, and after slacking off for a while, the second wave of zombies appeared in the same spot. To be honest, these zombies were not difficult to fight. Zhou Ning's output could match an entire team of ordinary players, and his survivability was far beyond what average players could compare to. Varian, moreover, had both defense and offense.

However, what was disgusting was that the intervals between zombie attacks became shorter and shorter, and during this time, the clown also began his erratic harassment. Although he didn't actively attack much, he would occasionally appear around the two, constantly casting various weakening curses on them. It was utterly sickening.

It was then that Zhou Ning realized that the Wandering Gunslinger still had a very obvious drawback: it focused too much on single targets and lacked area-of-effect skills. The only AoE skill was Conqueror's Haki, and in such a prolonged battle, the stamina bar was simply not enough.

After continuously eliminating 5 waves of zombies, a prompt appeared on the game panel: 【Optional Quest 2: Eliminate 100 Revived Zombies Completed, you receive 70000 experience reward.】

By this time, Zhou Ning's Clan Precept ability had long since expired, and his stamina bar was almost empty. Finally, after eliminating 9 waves of zombies, an abomination named Ramstein the Gorger joined the battlefield, becoming the last straw that broke the camel's back. Zhou Ning ultimately failed to hold on until the end, turning into a white light and returning to his tent.

He opened his pocket watch and checked the time. He had spent at least close to a day in the instance space, but less than 5 minutes had passed in the outside world; the time flow was completely different.

【Instance 【Purify Stratholme】 Failed】

Recalling the details from the instance just now, Zhou Ning couldn't help but twitch his mouth; it was simply too abnormal.